romance – Lena Corazon

Tag: romance

Celebrating Valentine’s Day with ALL The Books

Original image courtesy of varbenov / kozzi.com

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” — George R. R. Martin

“A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.” — Carl Sagan

“Books are the mirrors of the soul.” — Virginia Woolf

Since Valentine’s Day is all about love, I thought that this would be the perfect time to declare my lifelong passion and commitment to the best partner a girl could ever have: books.

As I like to say, lovers come and go, but books are forever. If I tried, I could probably measure my life in books, for they are at the center of my earliest memories. They’ve built up my soul like so many Tetris blocks, bits and pieces shaping my imagination and my heart. Their lives and the worlds continue to swirl about in my head–echoes of story and tale that comfort, heal, and teach, even as they entertain.

So this Valentine’s Day, I will be curling up with a bottle of wine and one of the dozens of books that have been clamoring for my attention. There will be classical music, and my favorite fuzzy blanket. If I am lucky, my cat may even show up and keep me company–the best sort of solo date night, in my opinion.

To celebrate this lifelong love affair, I’m sharing a handful of books that I fell in love with during my last book binge, when I managed to plow through eight books in seven days. I was full beyond belief by the end of it, but ohhhhh, it was a delicious feast while it lasted.

Here are my early favorites of 2013:

THE RUTH VALLEY MISSING by Amber Medina West
[Amazon | Goodreads]
Genre: Mystery
Synopsis:
Jameson Quinn trades in the crime, pollution, and drama of the big city for the quiet serenity of Ruth Valley. When a young man goes missing, Jameson starts to suspect that something sinister may be happening beneath the small town’s veneer of perfection.
Why It’s Awesome:
SO many reasons. Jameson is a wonderful protagonist, and someone I pretty much want to be BFFs with. She’s snarky, spunky, and intelligent, with the courage to go digging after the town’s secrets even when it becomes clear that doing so could come at the cost of her personal safety. And let’s not forget the fantastically snappy dialogue, or the well-paced plot, or the setting itself — Ruth Valley really is the perfect tiny town, but Amber West does a fantastic job in highlighting the ways that small communities can seem creepy.

With 33 five star reviews on Amazon, I am clearly not the only one who fell in love with this book. So go out and get it! You won’t be disappointed.

THE OUROBOROS CYCLE, BOOK ONE by G.D. Falksen
[Amazon]
Genre: Horror/Fantasy
Synopsis:
Babette Varanus is the scion of a wealthy 19th century French family, but she has little in common with her peers. After her grandfather’s enemies turn her world upside down, she finds herself pursuing a path that leads into the unknown, complete with vampires, mysteries, and all sors of dark secrets.
Why It’s Awesome:
In many ways, the tone of the novel reminds me of old 19th century horror novels in the vein of Bram Stoker’s DRACULA, while still managing to be original. This is an amazingly creative twist on the vampire/werewolf genre, and one that features a truly badass protagonist. Babette Varanus is not only resilient and resourceful, but the sort of woman who learns how to create her own future. As a side-note, I highly recommend checking out G.D. Falksen’s accompanying Pinterest board for this book. It is gorgeous, sumptuous, and absolutely magical.

ONLY HUMAN by Chris Reher
[Amazon | Goodreads]
Genre: Science Fiction
Synopsis:
Captain Nova Whiteside is promoted to elite Vanguard status in the Commonwealth army, and paired with Major Tychon, her straight-laced Delphian commanding officer. The two are forced to grapple with their differences when a crazed, power-hungry rebel leader gets his hands on a weapon that could destroy the universe.
Why It’s Awesome:
I love sci-fi, but I don’t tend to read a lot of it. ONLY HUMAN was a wonderful surprise. Not only did Chris Reher deliver a great adventure with a deeply satisfying romance subplot, but she also gives us a great example of world-building done right. Every character feels three-dimensional and real, and the array of alien cultures and planets are vivid and lifelike. There is plenty of action, adventure, and romance to be had here.

RUN ROSIE RUN by C.C. MacKenzie
[Amazon | Goodreads]
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Synopsis:
Rosie Gordon has everything she wants in life, but she can’t rid herself of the lifelong crush she’s had on her best friend’s brother, Alexander Ludlow. But when unrequited love turns into something more, will it be too much for her to handle?
Why It’s Awesome:
Okay, first up is a confession: I’ve read everything that C.C. MacKenzie has written. I know, I know, I say that like it’s a bad thing, but it really isn’t, because she is my new go-to author for steamy romance. What I love about her work is that she is brilliant when it comes to zeroing in on the transition between lust and love. It’s that moment of capitulation, when her hero and heroine finally decide to give in to their feelings and one another, that she does so well, and this book is no exception.

RUN ROSIE RUN can be read on its own, but it is Book 3 in the Ludlow Hall series. Book 1, RECKLESS NIGHTS IN ROME, is free on Amazon. Pick up a copy. You can thank me later.

ACROSS A MOONLIT SEA by Marsha Canham
[Amazon | Goodreads]
Genre: Historical Romance
Synopsis:
Simon Dante, an aristocrat and infamous privateer who is one of Queen Elizabeth’s most successful “sea haws,” meets his match in the beautiful but fierce Isabeau Spence, who serves on her father’s merchant ship. As sexual tension boils over between them, they find themselves caught up in the threat of war between England and Spain.
Why It’s Awesome:
I actually don’t know where to start, because this book blew me away. Marsha Canham’s use of historical detail is nothing short of amazing, the romance and tension between Simon Dante and Beau Spence is delicious, and her writing is exquisite. The book is an exercise in “show vs. tell”; her descriptions are vivid and, simply put, gorgeous. For example:

Their leader, the fifth Marquis of Moncada, was a rotund strut of a man with a face like a boil of dough stretched too thin over spidery red veins. He had small, dark eyes set so close together, they seemed to touch at the bridge, and he had made a feeble attempt to hide a weak chin under an abram beard trimmed to a perfect point.

Ack! I love it!

If you like action, adventure, and a good bodice-ripping historical romance, give it a read. And, y’know, the Kindle version is currently free on Amazon, so grab it while you can.

Have you read anything lately that’s made your list of new favorites? Share them in the comments!

Dice Games, Day 2: “Worthless?”

June 6, 2012 / Lena Corazon / 3 Comments

Okay, I got a little distracted from the #DiceGames fest this week, so my last 2 fills are a little late. But better late than never, no?

For Day 2, I rolled a 2. The prompt: Write a love story. Blood and gore mandatory.

I thought I’d have a bit of fun with this one, so here, have a couple of supernatural hunters, a horde of zombies, and a lovers’ tiff. This piece of flash fiction tried to run away with me, but I managed to shave it down to 750 words exactly.

And don’t forget to check out the fills from the other intrepid #DiceGames writers while you’re at it!

-oOo-

“Worthless?”

Fighting zombies was no time for a lovers’ quarrel, but Gareth had learned long ago that his beloved wasn’t like most women. A young lady of refinement would never be caught armed to the teeth with knives and pistols, nor would she spend her days tracking supernatural creatures to kill them in the most brutal way possible.

That was exactly why he loved Serenity. Her jealous streak, however, was another story altogether.

“I know you were looking at her.” Her voice, sharp with accusation, was loud enough to be heard above the noise of battle.

“Spirits be damned, Serenity, I love you.” The gravitas of his declaration was lost in his rather unmasculine screech as blood fountained from the monster before him, its head suddenly missing.

“Keep up,” she snapped, whirling away from the spurting corpse. Her katana flashed in the sunlight.

Grunting, he adjusted his grip on the crossbow, picking off two more of the shambling creatures before they could close in on her. “Are you even listening to me?”

“Sorry, I’m too busy trying to keep your worthless hide alive.”

He winced. “Worthless” wasn’t exactly the word he’d use to describe himself. He might’ve been more comfortable with a stack of books than he was with a weapon, but in the 2 years since Serenity had hauled him out of his library and proved that monsters existed, he’d become a fairly proficient hunter.

Pushing his silver-rimmed spectacles up the bridge of his nose, Gareth pulled a pistol out of his holster and emptied the rounds into the last creature. It tottered, stumbled backwards, and fell with a satisfying thud to the ground.

That’s when things went to hell.

A dozen more zombies were on them in the flash of an eye. Serenity leapt into the fray, a blade in each hand as she sought to keep them back. Gareth loosed his arrows upon the horde with breathtaking speed, until the crossbow was ripped out of his hand.

The zombie had him in its undead grasp before he could sneeze, lifting him a half-foot into the air. He struggled wildly, legs kicking out, but his attempts were completely ineffectual.

When was he going to learn to stop showing off?

The zombie’s hand tightened around Gareth’s throat, cutting off his screams. Spots danced before his eyes, and he wondered, absurdly enough, whether the creature would rip his head off or merely choke him to death.

He never got the chance to find out. He found himself crashing to the ground instead, the zombie toppling over a moment later. Putrid goo oozed from the body and puddled around Gareth, but he couldn’t bring himself to move.

Still alive. Still breathing. Shocking, really.

A shadow dropped over him, and Serenity’s face swam into view. Blood and gore stained her clothing; the squishy gray bits flecked on her cheek must’ve belonged to some poor zombie’s brain. Still, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He grinned up at her with all the enthusiasm of a psychotic.

“Maybe ‘worthless’ wasn’t the right word.”

His heart expanded in a swell of satisfaction. Maybe it only took half-dying for her to notice? “That’s right, ma’am.”

Her dark brows furrowed, her lips twisting in disapproval. “‘Reckless’ might be more accurate.”

Oh. Not quite the compliment he’d been hoping for. The silence stretched out between them, but she broke it at last, an unexpected grin brightened her face.

“Looks like I’ve managed to corrupt you at last. Never thought I’d live to see the day, Mr. Mountbatten.”

“Done more than that. You stole my damned heart while you were at it.” He inhaled gingerly, wincing at the pain that lanced his body. Bruised ribs, perhaps?

It didn’t matter. Gareth had things to say, and he wasn’t going to let petty injuries stop him. “I’m not lookin’ at anyone else. You’re the only one I want, Serenity Vega.”

She was silent as she knelt beside him, but her fingers lingered over his cheek with unexpected tenderness. “I know.” Her voice scarcely more than a whisper. “You have my heart, Gareth.”

Gently, she pulled him against her, cradling his head in her lap and pressing her lips to his forehead. His delight was slightly dimmed by her next words.

“If I catch you staring at another buxom barmaid’s assets ever again, I will personally castrate you.”

He could only chuckle in response and nuzzle in closer. No, Serenity wasn’t like other women, but she suited Gareth just fine.

Odysseus and Penelope: A Love Steadfast and Enduring

May 23, 2012 / Lena Corazon / 10 Comments

Long as the day in the summer time
Deep as the wine dark sea
I’ll keep your heart with mine.
Till you come to me

– Loreena McKennitt, “Penelope’s Song”

I’ve had romance and myth on the brain for the past few days, the former because I’ve been busy devouring regency romance novels, and the latter because I’ve been watching documentaries about Joseph Campbell and the hero’s journey.

Greek Romance Sketches, by Kate Beaton

Somewhere in the bubbling cauldron that is my brain, romance and myth merged together, and I started thinking about my favorite love stories from Greek and Roman mythology. The ancients are a passionate bunch; hatred and death tango side-by-side with love and romance.

As a child, I found that classical mythology challenged my notion of happily-ever-after, honed and sharpened from too many Disney films (I was actually slightly horrified after I watched Disney’s Hercules and then read the *real* myth. So much death!). After a while, however, I came to appreciate this world where gods meddled and interfered (see: every myth ever written), and mortals were driven by their base instincts and egos.

All of this leads me to Homer’s Odyssey, one of my favorite epic poems. Unlike poor Echo and Narcissus above, Odysseus and his wife Penelope do experience a happy ending.

The storyline is simple: Odysseus has spent 20 years trying to return to his home in Ithaka after the end of the Trojan War. Along the way he manages to offend both gods and mortals (including Poseidon, who is enraged at the way Odysseus taunts and provokes the Cyclops), but through his wily intelligence, and the guidance of “grey-eyed Athena,” he manages to finally return home.

There he discovers that his home has been overrun by 108 (!) men attempting to win Penelope’s hand in marriage, as they believe him to be dead. Odysseus and his son, Telemachus, slay the suitors, and finally, the wandering warrior can be reunited with his wife.

It’s the reunion that makes my poor little heart stutter and my eyes mist up. Penelope is shrewd, and she challenges Odysseus to prove his identity. In response he describes how he built their marriage bed with his own hands, fashioning it around an ancient olive tree:

An old trunk of olive
grew like a pillar on the building plot,
and I laid out our bedroom round that tree,
lined up the stone walls, built the walls and roof,
gave it a doorway and smooth-fitting doors.
Then I lopped off the silvery leaves and branches,
hewed and shaped that stump from the roots up
into a bedpost, drilled it, let it serve
as a model for the rest. I planed them all,
inlaid them all with silver, gold and ivory,
and stretched a bed between — a pliant web
of oxhide thongs dyed crimson.

There’s our sign!
I know no more. Could someone else’s hand
Have sawn that trunk and dragged the frame away?

Homer tells us that Penelope kisses Odysseus at last when he offers this sign, and in response, he weeps:

Now from his breast into his eyes the ache
of longing mounted, and he wept at last,
his dear wife, clear and faithful, in his arms,
longed for
as the sunwarmed earth is longed for by a swimmer
spent in rough water where his ship went down
under Poseidon’s blows, gale winds and tons of sea…
she too rejoiced, her gaze upon her husband,
her white arms round him pressed as though forever.

Swoon. It’s just so romantic.

I admit, I have a crush on Odysseus. It doesn’t help that I read The Odyssey after watching Troy, where Odysseus was portrayed by Sean Bean (imagining Sean Bean building a marriage bed for his beloved with his own hands = hot). But I digress.

Sean Bean as Odysseus in "Troy" (Source: The Guardian UK)

The more I think about it, the more I come to appreciate Penelope’s fortitude, intelligence, and strength. Loreena McKennitt, one of my favorite singers, articulates these very qualities in “Penelope’s Song,” described as “a paean to steadfast love.”

Although Penelope didn’t have to brave the retribution of gods and men for twenty years, she had to wait for twenty years, rearing a son, evading the suitors, and holding onto the belief that Odysseus lived. I’m reminded of a passage from Jane Austen’s Persuasion, where Anne Elliot argues that women “love longest, when existence or when hope is gone.” She continues,

We certainly do not forget you so soon as you forget us. It is, perhaps, our fate rather than our merit. We live at home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey on us. You are forced on exertion. You have always a profession, pursuits, business of some sort or other, to take you back into the world immediately, and continual occupation and change soon weaken impressions.

"Penelope Unraveling Her Web," by Joseph Wright of Derby

While Penelope might have been confined, she isn’t completely helpless. She uses her own techniques to thwart the suitors and to undermine their advances. For example, she promises to choose a husband from among them only after she weaves a burial shroud for her father-in-law; however, she secretly undoes part of the shroud every few nights in an attempt to delay her decision and to buy herself more time.

Penelope a remarkable character and the perfect mate for a hero like Odysseus. They are lovers and partners; Homer (at least from my reading) makes it clear that they relate with one another as equals, and by the end, they are left in marital bliss — or so I like to imagine!

What are your favorite romantic couples from myth and legend? Do you prefer star-crossed and tragic lovers, or ones who manage to weather the odds and achieve a happy ending?

Celebrating Valentine’s Day with Real Life Love Stories

February 13, 2012 / Lena Corazon / 11 Comments

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and because I am a die-hard hopeless romantic, I thought I’d dedicate today’s post to love, that most noble sentiment.

I dabble with romance in my writing, and a good romance book or film can always boost my spirits. But as much as I enjoy the love stories that Hollywood and my favorite novelists can create, it’s the love stories from real life that affect me the most.

Cupid and Psyche | Image via Wikipedia

I didn’t always feel this way, but after my first (and, to date, last) relationship ended, I found myself looking at love in a completely different light. If there’s anything that I’ve learned, it’s that maintaining a relationship is really damn hard… but that it’s worth the effort, if the person you’re with is also willing to put in the work.

My parents on their wedding day, July 1986

The older I get, the more I come to admire and understand the nuance of my parents’ relationship. As a child, I idolized their love story, the tale of a man and a woman from two different parts of the world meeting by chance in San Francisco, falling in love, getting married, and having a couple of kids.

I spent a lot of time looking at my atlas back in the day, tracing myself an imaginary line from the Philippines, where my dad was born and raised, to San Francisco, where he and his family moved when he was 15; from Ohio, where my mom was born, to Los Angeles, where she grew up, and up the coast to SF, where she moved in her early 20s. Add in the fact that my mom claims to have day-dreamed of marrying “a boy from an island” when she was 5, and you have the recipe for little Lena thinking that her parents’ relationship was written in the stars.

My parents worked in the same office in San Francisco, where dad was the chauffeur for the company president. As my mom tells the story, all of the ladies in the office had crushes on him, including all the fancy-pants executive secretaries… but somehow, he fell for her, the lowly receptionist. It almost reads like a romance novel: the plain Jane who wins the cute guy over all the other ladies. It was a story that I loved.

And yet, I knew very well the darker side of their relationship. Both of my parents came to their relationship saddled with their fair share of baggage, emotional and otherwise. To top it off, my dad had a nasty addiction to drugs and alcohol, which contributed to the fights and arguments, the cycle of making up, breaking up, and making up again.

The early years of their relationship were turbulent, and those problems only continued after they married and I was born. In my early memories, it was just my mom and me — dad was off elsewhere, carousing with the guys, too busy getting drunk and high to come home. And I even remember the day when everything changed, the terrible fight when my mom called the cops and had my dad arrested because his temper got so out of hand.

This is a story that, for so many reasons, shouldn’t have a happy ending. It’s a story that should have ended with a divorce… but it didn’t. Mom decided that she wasn’t going to take it anymore, kicked dad out the house, and told him he couldn’t come back till he was clean. And my dad hit rock bottom, decided that his life, his job, and his family were more important than anything else, and came back to us. My little sister was born shortly afterwards, when I was 5, and slowly but surely, we became a family.

The whole family together, Christmas 2010

Watching my parents grow together over the years has taught me that love is never easy, that it requires constant maintenance and cultivation, like a garden that must be tended each season in order for fruit to ripen and flowers to bloom. They have their ups and downs, the occasional argument and misunderstanding, but they are on solid ground with one another.

Now that my sister and I are both grown and more or less living on our own, it’s exciting for me to seem them enter a new phase in their relationship: two empty nesters who go out on impromptu dates, who have been together long enough to overcome some of the hardest challenges in their relationship and who now know each other so very well.

I think my proudest moment came last summer, when I watched them renew their vows for their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Their story is still in the process of being written, but it is one that reminds me that real life love is rarely as simple or straightforward as in the movies.

My parents on their 25th wedding anniversary, July 2011

I remember them today, especially because they have another anniversary coming up — the 28th anniversary of their first date, which, in a strange twist of coincidence, falls on February 18th, my 25th birthday. Congrats, Mom and Dad!

-oOo-

Because I am a music fiend, I had to give you all a couple of my favorite love songs to go along with today’s theme of “real life love stories.” These two, in my mind, capture the poignancy and uncertainty of love.

The first song, “Kissing You” by Des’ree, will be familiar to any of you who have seen the 1997 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Baz Luhrman and starring Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s bittersweet and beautiful, and Des’ree’s voice never fails to send chills down my spine.

The second comes from John Legend’s first album, Get Lifted. No matter how many times I hear this song, I’ll never get sick of it. John Legend tells the story of the love that “ordinary people” face, one that is far more complex and nuanced than any Hollywood fairy tale can portray.

What are your favorite “real life” love stories? Any romantic songs that you can’t stop listening to?

Love, Romance, and… The Odyssey?

July 23, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 3 Comments

Long as the day in the summer time
Deep as the wine dark sea
I’ll keep your heart with mine.
Till you come to me

– Loreena McKennitt, “Penelope’s Song”

I’ve had romance and myth on the brain for the past few days, the former because I’ve been busy devouring regency romance novels, and the latter because I’ve been watching documentaries about Joseph Campbell and the hero’s journey. This morning’s Twitter feed also encouraged me along, providing me with Amalia Dillin’s post on why Heracles isn’t her favorite, and Terrell Mims’ excellent discussions on myth and legend.

Greek Romance Sketches, by Kate Beaton

Somewhere in the bubbling cauldron that is my brain, romance and myth merged together, and I started thinking about my favorite love stories from Greek and Roman mythology. The ancients are a passionate bunch; hatred and death tango side-by-side with love and romance. As a child, I found that classical mythology challenged my notion of happily-ever-after, honed and sharpened from too many Disney films (I was actually slightly horrified after I watched Disney’s Hercules and then read the *real* myth. So much death!). After a while, however, I came to appreciate this world where gods meddled and interfered (see: every myth ever written), and mortals were driven by their base instincts and egos.

All of this leads me to Homer’s Odyssey, one of my favorite epic poems. Unlike poor Echo and Narcissus above, Odysseus and his wife Penelope do experience a happy ending. The storyline is simple: Odysseus has spent 20 years trying to return to his home in Ithaka after the end of the Trojan War. Along the way he manages to offend both gods and mortals (including Poseidon, who is enraged at the way Odysseus taunts and provokes the Cyclops), but through his wily intelligence, and the guidance of “grey-eyed Athena,” he manages to finally return home. There he discovers that his home has been overrun by 108 (!) men attempting to win Penelope’s hand in marriage, as they believe him to be dead. Odysseus and his son, Telemachus, slay the suitors, and finally, the wandering warrior can be reunited with his wife.

It’s the reunion that makes my poor little heart stutter and my eyes mist up. Penelope is shrewd, and she challenges Odysseus to prove his identity. In response he describes how he built their marriage bed with his own hands, fashioning it around an ancient olive tree:

Lena Corazon

Flights of Fancy